


Just like that

by hopeadrakon



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26547736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeadrakon/pseuds/hopeadrakon
Summary: Mitsuki is incredibly patient, although Ryuu figures he’s not a horribly difficult student. Still, he finds himself glad that it’s him who’s teaching him. And that has nothing to do with Mitsuki guiding him along with both of his hands, encouraging him to keep eye contact with him so he won’t look at his feet. Not at all. On an unrelated note, Mitsuki’s eyes are extremely beautiful.***In which Tsunashi Ryuunosuke pines over one Izumi Mitsuki. They go skating, and after Ryuu asks Mitsuki on a date that neither of them know is one. Ryuu needs to figure out how to continue from there.
Relationships: Izumi Mitsuki/Tsunashi Ryuunosuke, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, a few things:
> 
> Firstly, this whole thing was written as one (overly) long.... thing. But I decided to post it in two parts to save myself some sanity. And since it ended up way longer than I ever intended it to be, I'm going to assume the pacing is all over he place. Sorry for that in advance.
> 
> Secondly, they do mention that Ryuu is good at even winter sports in canon, but I figured it would be really cute for Mitsuki to teach him how to skate. Whether or not he has done that in canon, I don't know, but, please ignore that for the sake of this fic if he has.
> 
> Thirdly. So there's a rarepair week going on? This wasn't made for that, since I've been writing this thing for 6 months now, it just happened to get finished around this time. But I hope you appreciate my rarepair nonetheless. They're cute.

Ryuu glances at Mitsuki, talking with Re:vale and a few other Idolish7 members, just a few meters away. He knows he shouldn’t stare, so he won’t, but he can’t stop himself from taking a look every now and again. He can feel Tenn poring holes into him with his gaze—he knows Tenn knows, or at the very least, suspects.

Ryuu physically turns his attention back to the conversation at hand with the rest of Trigger and Anesagi, but he’s still far too much in his head to really take a part in it.

Uncertainty hurts, but he doesn’t want to do anything that would end up hurting even more. Not just the two of them, but their careers, and everyone around them. The collateral damage feels way too great to even consider awkwardly trying to get closure on his feelings.

Still, he can’t help himself from admiring Mitsuki from afar.

Both Gaku and Tenn must have noticed it by now; the way he keeps zoning out whenever Idolish7 comes on tv. The way he seems to give Mitsuki his utmost attention in a group setting. The way his eyes stray to him if they’re inhabiting the same space. And the way he can’t stop himself from smiling whenever Mitsuki does, too. Mitsuki’s smile is truly incredible and Ryuu feels like he could do absolutely anything, just to see it again.

He doesn’t do any of this consciously and has to assume merely from the fact that he hasn’t gotten a lecture from Tenn yet, that he’s not being too obvious. Ryuu hopes it’ll stay that way. One would think that with time, it’d be easier to control yourself, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. With time, his feelings grow only stronger and he finds himself getting lost in them.

He really hasn’t felt anything like this before.

It’s similar enough to the night when all three of them fell in love with Trigger, but still distinctly different. Maybe it’s the uncertainty of not knowing whether it’s mutual or not. Or it’s just a whole different emotion entirely, Ryuu isn’t sure.

Ryuu gets pulled from his thoughts when Gaku asks his feelings on the show they have coming up. Ryuu casts aside his ponderings and responds with excitement. It does sound fun, after all, especially with Re:vale and Idolish7 joining them.

After a beat, Ryuu feels a touch on his shoulder and turns around.

“Mitsuki-kun?” he asks, delighted, but this time consciously trying to reel it in as he smiles.

“Tsunashi-san! Momo-san and I were talking about our next sport’s club meeting, but it didn’t feel right without your input.” Mitsuki laughs and Ryuu feels like he’s gone.

“Well, I’m not in the middle of anything important”, Ryuu says and glances at the others. “Is it fine if I leave for a bit?”

Tenn gives him a stern look, before nodding in agreement.

“Fine, we’ll come and get you when we have to go.”

“And don’t stray too far, Ryuu.” Anesagi chimes in, just as stern. “I need my boys close and accounted for.”

Ryuu smiles and shakes his head.

“Don’t worry, I won’t. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Mitsuki seems to brighten up when he gets the okay and starts leading him back where Momo is.

“What is this about?” Ryuu asks.

“Oh! Momo-san just wanted to make some plans, nothing big. But we wanted you in on the conversation”, Mitsuki grins as they reach Momo.

Momo’s gaze flickers between the two of them in a way that seems somehow meaningful to Ryuu, but it’s all forgotten about the instant he greets him with his signature wide smile.

And they spend hours like that. Not planning their next meeting, that thing was over and done with after the first 20 minutes or so, but talking about the upcoming project and having fun. It’s an enjoyable change of pace.

***

When they agreed on “something different” for their next meeting, Ryuu hadn’t entirely considered what that might mean for him, specifically.

Ryuu feels like a newborn fawn as he tries to get a hang of how to get any sort of forward momentum when everything is slippery, the ice and the skates he has on. Hell, just staying upright requires most of his concentration, as he feels like his whole center of balance has shifted drastically. He has managed to not fall down _yet_ in the five whole minutes he has had the skates on, but he’s not particularly confident it’ll stay that way for long.

“Tsunashi-san are you—”

“I’m fine!” he hurries to answer as he tries to straighten his legs and stand up straight. “I just… haven’t done this before.”

“Yeah, I figured”, Mitsuki laughs and slides next to him. All his movements seem so smooth and graceful to Ryuu, at least in comparison to his own fumbling. “Would you like some instruction, then?”

Ryuu takes a moment to respond, as he has to stop himself staring at how easy Mitsuki makes this look.

“I… Um, I don’t want to slow you down, Mitsuki-kun”, he hesitates, not really wanting to be a bother, but he also knows he won’t be getting far alone.

“Please, I insist. Besides, it’s no fun if you can’t do anything except just stand there.” Mitsuki smiles and offers his hand to Ryuu. “Let’s get you moving first, it’s easier to keep your balance that way.”

Ryuu looks between Mitsuki’s face and his hand, unsure if he should accept it. He has no doubt in Mitsuki’s ability to pull him along, especially with the lack of friction, but he’s extremely concerned he won’t be able to stop himself and will end up running into him because of it. Mitsuki seems to pick up on that.

“Don’t worry. We won’t go fast. And I’ll teach you how to stop”, he laughs.

Ryuu hopes his blush blends in with the red already on his cheeks from the cold, as he nods and accepts his hand in his.

Mitsuki is incredibly patient, although Ryuu figures he’s not a horribly difficult student. Still, he finds himself glad that it’s him who’s teaching him. And that has nothing to do with Mitsuki guiding him along with both of his hands, encouraging him to keep eye contact with him so he won’t look at his feet. Not at all. On an unrelated note, Mitsuki’s eyes are extremely beautiful.

It doesn’t take him that long to find a proper balance and learn how shifting himself from one leg to another is an effective way to make himself move forward. Mitsuki commends him on that. Ryuu wishes he would do it more.

Stopping still scares him somewhat, but it’s similar enough to snowboarding, so it isn’t an impossible hurdle to overcome.

He’s having so much fun trying to come to terms with the skates, he had completely missed that Momo never joined them in the rink before Mitsuki comments on it.

“Hm? What do you think is keeping Momo-san?” Mitsuki asks, glancing toward the changing room door.

“Momo-san..?” he asks dumbly, before realizing that yes, in fact, there were supposed to be three of them here. “Oh. Um... I have no idea. Maybe he got pulled somewhere else?”

Mitsuki hums, seemingly unconvinced. Then, basically out of nowhere, Momo pops up, as if summoned by their words.

“Did you two miss me?” he asks with a grin as he catches up with them.

Mitsuki looks just as surprised as Ryuu feels.

“Well, we _were_ just wondering where you were”, Mitsuki says, still furrowing his brows, but he seems to get over it quickly enough. Weirder things have happened with Momo around.

“Sorry, sorry. I got held up. You two seemed to do fine without me, though.”

The topic changes from Momo’s sudden appearance to more mundane things. They continue talking and skating as Ryuu slowly grows more confident with his footwork on ice. Perhaps next time they could actually try their hand at hockey, like they had intended for this time, but soon decided it is for the best to let Ryuu take his time.

When they go back to change, Momo seems to disappear just as fast as he had reappeared earlier. He gives the two a hurried goodbye and runs off with his stuff in hand. Mitsuki seems to find this peculiar.

“Do you think he’s alright? Momo-san, I mean.”

Ryuu unties his skate and considers this.

“He might just be busy. I don’t think he’s acting that out of the ordinary.”

“You may be right”, Mitsuki says, but doesn’t seem conviced.

Ryuu glances at him. The furrow in his brow is cute, but he’d rather do without it. Mitsuki with no worries is a superior Mitsuki.

“We should see if this repeats”, Ryuu answers with a smile and keeps his gaze fixed on him in hopes of eye contact. “If this becomes a habit, something might be off. But just this once, I don’t think so.”

Mitsuki meets his gaze and seems to think about his words for a beat, before giving him a smile and a nod.

“Yeah, that’s true. Momo-san always seems to be up to something anyway, so he probably just has a lot going on.”

“Exactly”, Ryuu smiles and pulls his normal shoe on. It feels odd after the skate. “He did ask us to end today a bit earlier than normal, so it might just be that he had somewhere to be.”

“Ah, yeah”, Mitsuki agrees idly as he changes out of his skates, also.

A comfortable silence falls between the two of them, though Ryuu’s mind keeps jumping back to everything that just happened. The hold of his hands in his own, and the smiles directed just for him.

He’d love to get used to that.

Neither of them is in a hurry as they pack their things and idle chatter fills the silence among with it. They exchange a few anecdotes about their groupmates, and Mitsuki ends it with the story of “The time Tamaki and Riku almost burned down the dorm by trying to cook unsupervised”. Ryuu has heard that one before from Yamato, but he acts the part of an active listener all the same.

“You really have to put up with a lot, Mitsuki-kun”, Ryuu chuckles at the end and gives him a smile. “Hang in there.”

“Well, someone has to keep the order in the house, and the old man is too useless to do it”, Mitsuki grins and Ryuu figures he’s not serious about keeping the whole household afloat alone.

Still, he joins in with the joke.

“Must be difficult to be a single father of six.”

Mitsuki laughs hard enough for his eyes to squeeze shut. Ryuu feels proud.

“You bet it is! _And_ I have to work on top of it! I should get paid double”, Mitsuki shakes his head in amusement and closes the locker door he had open.

“If you ever want some time off from all that, you can always come and visit my place.” The suggestion slipped from his mouth so naturally, that it took a beat to actually sink in what he just said, and how casually he had said it. Ryuu keeps his gaze on the sports bag he is currently closing up, hoping it’ll save him from looking too weird in case Mitsuki is looking in his direction.

It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds until Mitsuki responds, and yet Ryuu already managed to list off every possible way to talk himself out of this in his head, just in case.

“Oh?” Mitsuki perks up, a bit surprised by the suggestion, yet clearly not opposed. “You’d want me there?”

Ryuu does everything in his power to mentally calm his own nerves so the next sentence he speaks wouldn’t come out as a stammering mess.

“Of course!” he smiles, now straightening up to look at Mitsuki. He really hopes that didn’t come off as awkward. “I’ve visited your dorms a few times already, so isn’t it only fair?”

That seems to take Mitsuki off guard a bit, but he recoils soon after, and returns his smile.

“Well, when you put it like that… I wouldn’t mind coming over some day. When’s your next day off?”

Ryuu can’t believe how easily that happened, so much so that his head is still spinning long after they separated and agreed on a date for Mitsuki to come over.

He really is about to be alone with Mitsuki. In private. Never in his life has he been more grateful to a week-long time to mentally prepare.

***

Cooking usually relaxes Ryuu, it’s something he does for fun, something he really enjoys. Today, though, he finds himself fumbling with most things he picks up and forgetting the stove on too high of a setting for too long. He considers himself lucky that nothing he made got ruined by how big of a klutz he had suddenly become.

Ryuu lowers the heat on the fish he’s currently frying and looks around the kitchen to determine how much preparing he still has to do. Not a lot, but with how nervous he is, it might end up taking him double the normal time. He gives a sigh turns his attention back to the fish. He has no idea if Mitsuki is going to like it.

For the past week he tried his hardest to look through all and any interview he could get his hands on from Mitsuki or even Idolish7, but anything food-related with him always seemed to boil down to sweets. Ryuu frowns. While he isn’t exactly bad at baking, his strengths do lie in cooking more, and he knows making anything even worth contesting something the son of a patisserie could make was way beyond him.

Perhaps he is worrying about this way too much, it’s not like Mitsuki is going to hate him if he fails to deliver the most amazing dining experience imaginable. But he does want Mitsuki to enjoy himself to the fullest. He wonders if he’d be more at ease if he had managed to fish out what Mitsuki’s favorite food is. At least then he’d have something to rely on. Now he’s mostly just hoping for Mitsuki to enjoy Ryuu’s own favorite dishes, which probably just makes the anticipation even worse.

Ryuu nearly burns himself on the skillet when the doorbell rings while he’s plating the fish. He _really_ needs to calm down. But the ten seconds it takes him to move from the kitchen to his door isn’t nearly enough for that.

“Hi!” Mitsuki greets with a wide smile and pushes a small box into Ryuu’s hands as soon as the door opens.

“Ah, welcome!” Ryuu replies, a bit flustered as he backs away enough to give Mitsuki space to come in and take off his shoes while inspecting the box he was just handed. “You didn’t need to bring me anything…”

“Nonsense”, Mitsuki chuckles and gives him a smile as he puts away his coat. “I was invited, so of course I’m bringing a gift. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Ryuu just stands there for a beat, but soon returns his smile. “I guess I don’t have a choice then. Thank you.”

Mitsuki looks happy with that. Ryuu invites him further in.

“I was just finishing up. Please sit down, I’ll be there in a moment.”

Ryuu escapes to the kitchen with the box in tow, leaving Mitsuki alone for the time being. He hopes he isn’t being rude by doing that, but he really needs to finish everything up and would rather Mitsuki not seeing the current state of his kitchen. He hadn’t yet had the time to do the dishes, after all.

It doesn’t take longer than a few minutes for Ryuu to finish everything up.

“Sorry for making you wait”, Ryuu smiles apologetically while setting the plate in front of Mitsuki. “My time management wasn’t the greatest today…”

Mitsuki looks a bit surprised, but soon shakes his head with a smile. “I came in early, it’s not your fault.”

Ryuu can’t really do much else than smile and accept that.

“Well, I hope you like it.”

Ryuu doesn’t dare to take a bite before Mitsuki does, he even catches himself holding his breath to try and gauge is reaction.

Mitsuki’s eyes light up.

“Tsunashi-san, this is so good!” he smiles, and Ryuu feels like he can breathe again. “So Yaotome wasn’t lying when he said your food’s the best.”

Ryuu blushes a bit at the compliment and takes a moment to figure out what to say. “Thank you, I’m glad to hear that. I wasn’t sure if you’d like it, so I’m happy to hear that you do…”

Mitsuki shakes his head at that.

“There’s no way anyone wouldn’t like this. It’s delicious. I can’t believe you made all this just for me…” He seems to trail off at the end of that sentence. Ryuu is curious but doesn’t question him.

“Of course, you’re my guest”, he smiles. “I can’t just invite you over and have nothing prepared.”

Mitsuki teases him for being a bit over-prepared and their conversation carries on from that. They talk about recent events and upcoming collaborations they’ve caught wind of. Ryuu tells about a mishap that happened during one of their photoshoots and Mitsuki responds with a story from behind the scenes of Nagi and Riku’s radio show.

All of the awkwardness that was enveloping Ryuu before quickly melts away with the conversation and everything is comfortable. So comfortable that he finds himself wishing this was usual—that this could happen again.

There are pauses in their conversation, every now and again, very comfortable ones. And during those Ryuu wonders, wonders if he dares to suggest that they’d do this again. And yet, he doesn’t have to.

“I’d love to have nights like this more often”, Mitsuki sighs, with a gentle smile on his face. They had some wine with the food, and a bit of it shows as a faint blush on Mitsuki’s face. “It’s fun.”

Ryuu smiles, and before he can really process what he’s saying he replies:

“I’d love to have you over more.”

Mitsuki’s face changes, as if he hadn’t been expecting that kind of response and that awakens Ryuu to what he had just said. He doesn’t have long to wonder if he’s gone too far and if he’s ruined everything, before Mitsuki looks away with an expression Ryuu hadn’t really seen on him before. Shy and bashful, vulnerable.

“You would?” he asks carefully, as if Ryuu would take back what he just said when reminded of his own words.

“I think it’s fun, too”, Ryuu smiles and can’t quite control the fondness in his gaze. “Having you here. I like spending time with you. At work of course, but… Like this, too.”

Mitsuki looks at him, wide eyed, before laughing quietly.

“How on earth do you make such common phrases to sound so romantic?” Mitsuki shakes his head as if to laugh the thought away.

It’s Ryuu’s turn to look shocked this time around.

“Romantic..?” He repeats, dumbfounded. “W-wait I…”

Ryuu has no idea how to defend himself.

Mitsuki looks a bit startled from that.

“A-ah, no, just forget what I said…”

The silence that fills the room feels agonizing, long, way longer that it has any right to be. Ryuu stares at Mitsuki, but Mitsuki keeps his head down. Ryuu doesn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry”, comes a faint apology from Mitsuki and to Ryuu’s dismay, he can detect a waver in his voice.

Did he upset him? That’s the worst thing he could do!

“Don’t apologize!” he rushes to say and doesn’t quite know how to control the panic inside of him. “You didn’t say anything wrong. I-I just… I didn’t realize I came off that way, I guess…”

Mitsuki doesn’t lift his gaze but Ryuu thinks he detects his shoulders relaxing a bit. That relieves him a bit.

“I should be the one apologizing”, he continues to speak, with a bit of a smile this time. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I really meant it when I said I like having you around, so I’d never want to do something like that intentionally.”

There’s a short silence between the two of them, before Mitsuki lifts his gaze back to Ryuu and gives him one of the brightest smiles he’s ever seen, despite the tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Ryuu can tell Mitsuki’s holding them back, and all it does is make him nearly tear up, too.

“You’re so kind, Tsunashi-san. I’m sorry for being weird. I got really nervous when you didn’t say anything”, he laughs while wiping his eyes. Ryuu stands up and walks up next to him.

“Don’t worry about it”, he says, gently placing a hand on Mitsuki’s shoulder in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

“I feel like I’m the one being weird, anyway”, Ryuu laughs and starts collecting the dishes from the table.

“Maybe we both are”, Mitsuki responds with a grin. “Ah, let me help with the dishes.”

“Oh, no! Don’t worry about them. Just sit tight”, Ryuu shakes his head, but Mitsuki is already up on his feet and picking up the remaining dishes.

“Nah, I don’t want to just sit there while you do all the work. Together it’ll be faster anyway.”

Ryuu takes a moment, surprised that he still insisted, but ends up smiling fondly as he lets Mitsuki do as he likes.

“Alright then, thank you.”

The two of them make their way to the kitchen, dishes in hand. More carefree chatter fills the air when they continue spending their time together. They later open the box of homemade cookies Mitsuki brought with him. Ryuu is amazed by the detail of the decorations in them.

Ryuu is having an amazing time, and yet, he can’t help but feel he missed some sort of opportunity earlier. Something about the air between them felt distinctly different for a moment, and that didn’t happen again for the rest of the evening.

Ryuu can’t get it out of his mind by the time Mitsuki’s already left and he’s starting to get ready for bed. He can’t seem to figure it out, since he doesn’t dare to dream big enough.


	2. Chapter 2

“Gaku, Tenn… Can I ask your advice on something?”

Trigger’s dressing room might not be the ideal place for this conversation, but it’s where Ryuu finds the time between two jobs. Tenn looks up from the magazine he’s reading with a calculating look on his face, while Gaku seems rather surprised by the sudden prompt.

“What is it?” Gaku asks, taking a sip from his water bottle.

“Mitsuki-kun was at my place yesterday…” he prefaces and Tenn’s gaze sharpens as he’s studying Ryuu.

“Did you tell him about your crush?” Tenn asks, startling Ryuu with his straight-forwardness, despite him already being very sure Tenn knew about it from the start.

“Tenn.” Gaku scolds, likely just as taken aback the suddenness of Tenn’s question. Tenn answers this with a glare.

Ryuu smiles a bit awkwardly and hopes he’s not blushing too terribly.

“I didn’t. But, that’s kind of what I wanted to ask you about.”

“I’m not sure what makes you think we’d be great at giving relationship advice”, Tenn says, following up with a nonchalant shrug.

“Well, I can’t really talk about things like this with my family and since you two started dating, I thought you might have some insight…” Ryuu trails off at the looks on Tenn’s and Gaku’s faces. Tenn’s eyes went wide while Gaku furrowed his eyebrows, both seemingly taken off guard by his words. Ryuu wonders if he said something wrong.

“Am… Am I wrong?”

“How on earth did you know that?” Tenn is the first to speak, his gaze now sharper but puzzled all the same.

“Yeah, we were going to tell you, but you already figured it out…” Gaku joins, running a hand through his hair, looking a bit bashful.

Ryuu smiles, now a bit more relaxed. He was afraid he had been making assumptions.

“Well, it was just a hunch, but something about the way you act around each other changed.” Ryuu starts and gives each of them a smile before explaining further. “Like some sort of tension that was there before alleviated. Though the biggest giveaway really was that you stopped fighting as often…”

Ryuu is met with silence once again, as Tenn somehow looks more taken aback than he did a moment ago. Gaku finds Tenn’s newfound bewilderment just as surprising as Ryuu, as he shoots Tenn an inquisitive look. Tenn sighs.

“You noticed all of those minute changes”, he shakes his head and goes to rub his own temples. “but you can’t see Izumi Mitsuki’s obvious interest in you. Ryuu, you’re hopeless.”

Ryuu takes a moment to absorb what Tenn just said, but even then he’s not sure what he heard was correct.

“Mitsuki-kun’s..? Are you sure?” he asks, scared to get his hopes up, but he can feel a blush creeping on his face.

Gaku laughs. “Ryuu, it really isn’t very hard to see. Believe in yourself a bit more.”

Ryuu is speechless as he just stares at the two, somehow already several steps ahead of him in this conversation, when he hasn’t even managed to ask the question he was supposed to. He might’ve taken a bit too long to form a response when Tenn is the next one to speak up.

“Gaku, I think we broke him.”

“Well, you’re the one who brought it up”, Gaku rolls his eyes and gives Ryuu a sympathetic smile. “Ryuu, you should talk to him.”

“Really? Um, well… That _is_ what I was about to ask…”

“It’s a good conversation to have. Just”, Tenn’s tone turns firmer, “be careful.”

***

Tenn’s words ring in Ryuu’s ears days later, when he’s with Mitsuki, having invited him over just for this discussion. _Be careful. You are in different groups, after all._ Ryuu understands the risks involved, he has from the beginning, but he’s glad about Tenn’s reminder all the same. It might be a matter of his private life, but were something to go wrong he could possibly cause problems not only the whole of Trigger, but Idolish7 as well. He might even affect the relationship the two groups have with each other. It’s the last thing he wants, but he understands it’s something that could happen regardless of what he does.

And it scares him, of course it does. But he feels he’d just be lying to them both were he to hide this any longer. Especially if Mitsuki feels the same, but won’t speak up for the same reasons, it’s better to be open about this. They’ll feel more at ease, no matter what conclusion they reach together.

Ryuu tries to calm his nerves when greetings have been exchanged and it as come the time for him to explain himself.

“Mitsuki”, Ryuu starts, as Mitsuki is getting his shoes off, moving a bit further in to his apartment, but not getting too far from the entrance. He doesn’t want to delay this any further. “I need to tell you something.”

When Mitsuki looks back up at him from his feet, something flashes in his eyes that Ryuu can’t quite read and his expression turns wary.

“What is it?” he asks, voice neutral, but his worried expression gives him away. Ryuu doesn’t blame him for being nervous after hearing words like that.

“I need to hear your side on something. Well, I mean…” Ryuu frowns. He had prepared for this beforehand, but suddenly he’s drawing blank. He needs to press on, though. He needs to get the words out of his mouth somehow.

“I-I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, so if you have any problems with what I’m about to say, I want you to just say so, so…” He trails off, realizing his preamble bears no meaning when he hasn’t explained himself in the slightest.

Mitsuki’s brow furrows more, now Ryuu figures it’s from confusion, understandably so. He takes a deep breath, fixes his gaze in Mitsuki’s and tries again.

“Mitsuki-kun, I really like you. Not just as a friend, but... more than that, I… I suppose. And I didn’t think it would be fair to you for me to keep it hidden any longer”, Ryuu speaks, surprised how easily the words flow out despite the fact he can feel his heartbeat in his ears and those few stumbles in his words. Still, it feels easier now that he got the biggest thing out. “I don’t expect you to return my feelings, and I don’t want you to feel pressured to do so, um… For the future. I wanted you to know.”

His words end a bit awkwardly, but he isn’t sure if there’s a non-awkward way to go about something like this. It’s not like he has any experience on the matter.

It’s surprisingly hard to read the expression Mitsuki is wearing right now, but it definitely is some part surprised, and Ryuu can’t blame him.

There’s a silence that lasts uncomfortably long, or at least that’s what if feels like, but Ryuu wouldn’t want to hurry Mitsuki up. It is a lot to take in. He tries to keep his thoughts from running away with the worst-case scenario and rather focus on the present. He waits, with his best efforts to keep himself calm, despite how awkward he feels.

“Well. To be real with you here, that wasn’t at all where I was expecting this to go.” Mitsuki laughs a nervous laugh, but eventually returns Ryuu’s gaze with a smile.

“Wow, um…” He averts his gaze again, but Ryuu waits patiently. “You really mean all of that?”

“I do”, he responds, trying to keep his voice level despite the nervousness. “I wouldn’t be telling you this if I wasn’t sure, really. That would be even more unfair.”

“Oh.” Comes Mitsuki’s response and he blinks a few times, as if some sort of realization just hit him. “Tsunashi Ryuunosuke really _is_ confessing to me, and this isn’t a prank.”

Ryuu can’t stifle the laugh that follows a line like that. Well, a part of it was just the tension leaving his body.

“Mitsuki-kun. It’s okay if you need to take a while with this. It _is_ a lot to take in, after all. If you’d rather leave and come back another time, I’d be fine with that, too.” Ryuu smiles and takes note of just how stiff Mitsuki seems to be, too. Thinking of a response to a confession is probably just as nerve wracking as what Ryuu just did.

Mitsuki shakes his head.

“No. I don’t want that. I’m sorry if I’m coming out as unclear”, he says, firm. He meets Ryuu’s eyes again, this time with a shy look the likes of which Ryuu has never seen on him before. It’s incredibly endearing. Ryuu tries to fight the giddy smile that’s pulling at the corners of his lips. The look in Mitsuki’s eyes changes soon, however, to something more with more determination. “Rather, I’d like to stay. More than that, I’d like to ask you on a date, Tsunashi-san.”

It’s Ryuu’s turn to be taken aback, with how Mitsuki had been acting, he had been convinced Mitsuki was just mulling over how to let him down softly, despite the reassurances Tenn and Gaku had given prior. The request that came out instead rendered Ryuu completely speechless.

“I-I… What?” is all Ryuu manages to get out, as trying to form a sentence proved to be too hard.

Mitsuki takes a pause and frowns. “Was that too much? I thought that was what you were getting to eventually…”

“No! … Wait, yes!” Ryuu isn’t sure which part he is responding. “Um…”

He gives a sigh and starts again, taking a step toward Mitsuki and his hands in his own.

“I really didn’t even dare to dream you would return my feelings, Mitsuki-kun”, Ryuu says with a smile, squeezing gently on Mitsuki’s hands as he returns the soft look. “So I didn’t exactly think that far.”

This time, Mitsuki laughs, then laces their fingers together.

“I refuse to believe there are people in this world who don’t feel something for you, Mister Japan’s 2nd Sexiest Man.” The grin on Mitsuki’s face is brilliant and Ryuu finds himself a tad amused by his words, too, if not a bit embarrassed. “Look, I’ve liked you for a while now, but I didn’t feel right telling you about it. In a way, I was afraid that’s what you wanted to talk about…”

“Your feelings for me?” Ryuu asks, confused. “How would have I even known?”

Mitsuki smiles and shakes his head.

“I guess you wouldn’t have. Sorry.”

Ryuu blinks, a bit puzzled by the remark, but decides to leave it at that. Instead, he smiles focuses on the nice feeling enveloping him. He hopes Mitsuki feels similarly. It’s a soft kind of feeling that makes him feel separate from any sort of reality, only Mitsuki’s hands in his anchoring him.

“Tsunashi-san?”

Ryuu snaps out of the daze he had been in just a moment ago—it is hard to not get lost in Mitsuki’s eyes. He tilts his head inquisitively.

“Can I kiss you?” Mitsuki asks and carefully untwines their fingers in favor of taking yet another step closer and placing his hands on Ryuu’s shoulders.

The blush on Mitsuki’s cheeks is a tell that he isn’t used to something like this either, but the gentle smile assures Ryuu that it’s okay. Ryuu barely nods and leans down, realizing that it’s required with their height difference. Mitsuki still has to get up on his tiptoes, and he lifts himself up by the strong grip he has on Ryuu’s shoulders.

Their lips touch, but it’s only for a second. Mitsuki drops back down with a laugh.

“This isn’t going to work, you’re too tall.”

Ryuu blinks, understanding what Mitsuki is saying in theory, but still so focused on that short moment of contact that feels like it overrode everything else that might have been going on in his head.

“Come on.”

Mitsuki takes his hand and leads him over to the couch, and Ryuu sits down, expecting Mitsuki to follow suit and sit down next to him. That doesn’t happen. Instead, Mitsuki lifts a knee next to him on the couch and leans close, still standing up in front of him. Mitsuki cups his face gently with both of his hands and smiles that same gentle smile as he looks down at Ryuu.

“This is better”, he says in a whisper, as if anything louder would ruin the moment.

Ryuu isn’t sure if anything could ruin this for him. He feels like he could die from just how handsome Mitsuki looks right at this moment, the confidence in his actions enhancing all of it. Ryuu is so enamored with the way Mitsuki holds him as he leans in for a kiss again, that he completely misses just how much the other is shaking.

Ryuu’s arms find their way around Mitsuki’s waist to pull him closer as Mitsuki guides his head to tilt a bit further, making the position easier for the two of them.

The kiss doesn’t last that long, but Ryuu wouldn’t know, as it feels like it lasted longer than anything he had ever experienced before and not long enough at the same time. Ryuu misses the feeling already, but knows to wait until they’ve both relaxed their nerves a bit.

When Ryuu meets Mitsuki’s eyes again, the look he’s met with leaves him breathless. Mitsuki is more serious now, examining for signs of discomfort, Ryuu supposes, from the small furrow of his brow. Ryuu takes a second, but eventually he smiles and carefully moves his hands from the small of Mitsuki’s back over to the upper part of it and pulls gently.

“You can sit down, it’s okay”, Ryuu says and adores the gentle flush now decorating Mitsuki’s cheeks.

“Here? Like... this?” he asks, surprise written all over his face as he leans further onto Ryuu’s lap, his hands now grabbing Ryuu’s shoulders for support.

“Exactly.” Ryuu helps by pulling him closer and Mitsuki lifts his other leg onto the couch too, now straddling his thighs.

Ryuu’s smile only widens, having Mitsuki so close feels like bliss. To try and ease out the tension formed between the two of them again, Ryuu moves one of his hands onto Mitsuki’s shoulder—the most inoffensive spot he could think of—and gives it a gentle squeeze.

“Is everything okay?” he asks quietly, as Mitsuki’s expression is a bit unreadable at the moment.

Mitsuki laughs.

“Yeah, yeah.” He shakes his head a bit, as if in disbelief. “I dunno, this whole thing just caught up to me all of a sudden, is all! I really am sitting on the legs of one Ryuunosuke Tsunashi, huh…”

Ryuu smiles again and lifts his hand from his shoulder.

“Can I?” he asks, about to touch his face, wanting explicit permission.

Surprise flashes in Mitsuki’s eyes, before he smiles back and laughs again.

“You don’t need to ask for a permission to touch me, Tsunashi-san.”

Ryuu carefully cups his cheek and runs a thumb across it. Mitsuki leans into the touch.

“I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Please tell me if something is off.”

Mitsuki hums and closes his eyes, enjoying the touch.

“I will. Though everything is far from off right now. Your hands are warm.”

Ryuu doesn’t know what about that compliment makes him feel especially good, but it does spark a special kind of happiness in him. He doesn’t say anything as they just enjoy the moment together, close and comfortable. Ryuu slowly moves his hand from Mitsuki’s cheek, over to his hair, carefully carding through the locks.

“Your hair is really soft.” The sentence comes out more surprised than he intended.

Mitsuki opens his eyes, some amusement sparkling in them.

“Yeah?” he asks and buries his own hands into Ryuu’s hair. “Huh, I guess yours is pretty stiff.”

Ryuu gets shivers running down his spine for that, mostly just from the unexpectedness of the action. He responds with a smile, though.

“They’re really different, yeah”, he agrees, not sure why this is a conversation topic they ended on, but not complaining about the pair of hands in his hair. Mitsuki stroking through his hair feels heavenly.

Mitsuki stays quiet for a beat, as if thinking about something, before jumping a bit and pulling his hands back to himself.

“Ah! Sorry! I should have asked first”, he exclaims, looking a bit worried.

Ryuu responds by carefully taking ahold of Mitsuki’s wrists and guiding them back into his hair.

“Please continue, it felt really good.”

The blush on Mitsuki’s face intensifies and for a moment Ryuu wonders if he did something wrong, before being met with yet another one of Mitsuki’s beautiful smiles, this one a bit more special than the rest.

“How could I say no?” Mitsuki laughs and Ryuu feels his hands carefully moving around, searching for the best place to settle in. Ryuu settles the hand he has in Mitsuki’s hair on the back of his head and cants his head a bit to the side, inquisitively.

“Could I… also ask for another kiss?”

Mitsuki’s smile widens and he pulls Ryuu closer by the hold on his head.

“Don’t you dare to ask me that again, just do it.” And their lips meet for a third time.

Ryuu doesn’t really have time to process what Mitsuki just said, as all he can think is just how amazing kissing him feels. Everything feels especially perfect when the way Ryuu runs his fingers through Mitsuki’s hair, causes him to pull him even closer.

When Mitsuki pulls back once more, Ryuu takes note of this somewhat hazed quality his eyes take afterwards. He strives to fix it with carefully sliding his hand back to stroke his cheek and a response comes in the form of a smile.

“Tsunashi-san?”

“What is it?” Ryuu finds he loves touching Mitsuki’s face.

“You never responded to my question”, Mitsuki pouts.

Ryuu blinks once, twice, and for the life of him cannot recall what he was asked and when.

“Your…question?” he asks for a clarification.

“About the date." The pout deepens, but from the way the corners of his mouth twitch, Ryuu can see he’s fighting a smile.

“Ah…” he smiles, a bit awkwardly, but then shakes his head with a laugh. “Of course, there’s no way I’d refuse. Even if I don’t really know what that entails…”

Mitsuki lets go of the façade of a pout and smiles widely instead.

“That’s fine, I don’t either”, he laughs. “I’ll let you know when I decide on it.”

Ryuu nods, but doesn’t say anything at first, just taking in the bliss he’s feeling at the moment, carefully stroking his thumb across Mitsuki’s cheek. But then a more rational side of him takes over and he takes a bit more level approach.

“How are we going to go about this...?” he asks, unsure how to exactly articulate the main question he has, though he does have several. They are both idols, and from different agencies. There is a lot that could go wrong here. And on top of that, he has never dated anyone. Discussing about what they expect going forward is likely a good idea.

Mitsuki’s face instantly turns a bit more thoughtful too; this question didn’t come to him as a surprise and Ryuu finds himself glad he understood what he was asking despite the wording.

“Saying we should be careful is kind of obvious, isn’t it?” Mitsuki asks with a quiet laugh. “But, besides work stuff, when it comes to everything else… Let’s just take it slow and see how things develop. That goes for the date too, let’s figure it out when we get to it. Alright?”

Ryuu nods. Despite his response not being all that specific, he finds it helpful, nonetheless. Somehow, the fact that neither of them really know what exactly to expect feels secure, that there’s no need to achieve anything grand with this. They can just figure everything out at their own pace.

“Yeah… That sounds perfect.”

Mitsuki says nothing after that, and there is a moment of comfortable silence between the two. Ryuu keeps carefully stroking Mitsuki’s face and silently appreciates how soft it feels, how amazing everything is right now.

Mitsuki smiles and tries to turn away before tears start falling from his eyes, but Ryuu catches a glimpse.

“Mitsuki-kun!? I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?” he asks, startled and in a hurry to take his hands off him, in case he accidentally hurt him.

There’s a pause, which does no favors to Ryuu, but Mitsuki seems to need it.

“No… _I’m_ sorry”, he says, going to wipe away his tears.

Panic rises inside of Ryuu, but he’s left with no time to react before Mitsuki turns to face him properly again and continues.

“Don’t worry, I’m not hurt!” Mitsuki’s laugh comes out as half a sob and it doesn’t help to alleviate Ryuu’s worry. “I-I’m just… I’m so happy.”

That last sentence does help—though it does suddenly make it hard for Ryuu to hold back his own tears.

“Mitsuki-kun”, he says quietly and carefully takes Mitsuki’s hands into his own, to move them away from his face. Mitsuki says nothing and lets him, meeting his gaze with still overflowing eyes. Ryuu smiles. “It’s okay. So am I.”

Ryuu goes to carefully brush away Mitsuki’s tears as he can’t hold back his own anymore and Mitsuki laughs again.

“Look at us, a pair of saps.” Mitsuki’s voice wavers and he reaches out to touch Ryuu’s face in turn. “This is stupid.”

Ryuu can’t help but laugh. Yeah, this is kind of stupid. But it was also to be expected, knowing the two of them.

“Perhaps. Let’s get it out of the way now, so we don’t have to worry about it later.”

Mitsuki grins with a nod and carefully leans in to kiss Ryuu again—never mind the tears.

***

A week or so later they have their another go at skating, and hopefully this time they’d be able to play hockey too, like they originally intended. The three of them are supposed to meet up in the changing room, but Momo seems to be running late. Though, Ryuu doesn’t really mind spending a bit more time with just him and Mitsuki. Sitting next to him on the bench he can’t really resist the urge to reach out and take Mitsuki’s hand in his own. They are alone, after all.

Mitsuki looks up, surprised, before grinning and lacing their fingers together.

“Scared of going onto the ice again? Don’t worry, I got you~” he teases and it’s Ryuu’s turn to blink in surprise.

“No, that’s not…”

Mitsuki laughs before he can finish his thought.

“I know. You got the hang of it pretty well last time”, Mitsuki offers now as a genuine compliment, an encouraging smile decorating his face. “You’ll do even better tonight.”

Ryuu feels weird; being complimented by Mitsuki always feels good, but the competitive part in him would rather say something among the lines of, _of course_ , _of course I will be better._

Ryuu doesn’t have a lot of time to process this, as in the next moment the door opens and Momo walks in—the two of them hurry to untangle their hands and move a bit further away from each other, doing their best to look casual, platonic, as you do.

Momo stops in his tracks and eyes each of them suspiciously.

For Ryuu, the next second feels like an actual eternity, as he tries to make the decision whether to say something or stay quiet. Momo makes that decision for him.

“Success!” Momo grins, surprising both Ryuu and Mitsuki. Neither of them has any idea what he means, confirmed by the look they share, clearly trying to search for answers from the other. Before either of them has the time to voice a question, though, Momo speaks up again.

“You know, I wasn’t sure if you’d make good of all of the alone time I gave the two of you, but it seems to have paid off~” Momo smiles wide and walks closer to the two of them. “Now, tell me everything.”

Ryuu is still confused, he has absolutely no idea what Momo means, but when he looks at Mitsuki for support, there is some sort of realization in his eyes.

“You… set us up?” Mitsuki asks, taken aback.

“Huh?” Ryuu asks, eloquently.

“I just wanted to give you guys a little push! You two had been making eyes at each other for long enough”, Momo explains, and looks very proud of himself while doing it, too.

Ryuu blinks, trying to comprehend the situation. Was he really that obvious? For Momo _and_ Tenn and Gaku to pick up on this…

“Momo-san, was it really that obvious?” Mitsuki voices Ryuu’s thoughts for him.

Momo tilts his head and seems to think.

“Obvious? No, I don’t think so. I’ve just seen how you act around each other enough”, he laughs. “But that’s enough about that, sorry I was late, we should get to skating.”

Ryuu feels like this is going way too fast, but decides it is perhaps for the best not to go against Momo on this. They are here to skate, after all.

Momo changes into his skates too and when all of them stand up to leave, he turns around at the door to look at the two of them.

“You need to tell me everything later, okay?” he winks and disappears through the door.

“E-everything??” Ryuu stammers, but Momo is already gone. He hopes he can blame the red on his cheeks to the cold air.

Glancing at Mitsuki, he seems just as red in the face, but instead of dwelling on it, he gives Ryuu a smile and reaches for the door.

“Let’s worry about this later, okay?”

Ryuu nods and follows him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl I'm actually.... really insecure about posting this whole fic, lol. But.... here it is.... for everyone to read.
> 
> Anyway if you got this far, thank you. It does mean a lot. And I hope you liked at least something about it. Thanks for reading....


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